13 May 2004 Edition

Carol Ann Kelly - aged 12, Belfast, Ireland, May 1981. Hanan Matrud - aged 8, Basra, Iraq, August 2003.
The daily revelations of the murder of civilians and torture of prisoners in Iraq by the US and British forces will come as no surprise to the nationalist people of the Six Counties and to anyone in Ireland and internationally who knows the reality of foreign military occupation. Free article

The claim by both Tony Blair and Geoff Hoon this week that they did not know about the Red Cross report on the abuse of detainees in Iraq by US and British soldiers until the story broke in the media last week seems barely credible. Given their respective positions as Prime Minister and Defence Secretary, and the contents of the report itself, their argument that the it was "confidential" and had in any case already been acted upon by the MoD defies belief. Free article

Thousands of republicans from across Ireland arrived in Belfast on Sunday 9 May to attend the annual 1981 Hunger Strike commemoration parade. People from across the nine Ulster Counties were well represented at the parade. Feeder marches from Twinbrook in West Belfast, Ardoyne in North Belfast, Short Strand in East Belfast and The Markets in South Belfast made their way through Belfast's streets to the main rally point at Belfast City Hall. Free article

Last weekend saw the 23rd anniversary of the death of Bobby Sands, the first of ten Irish republican prisoners of war to die in the H-Block Hunger Strike of 1981 rather than be labelled criminals.
On Friday night, the annual Bobby Sands Memorial Lecture was delivered by Michael Finucane, son of solicitor Patrick Finucane, who was shot dead by the UDA pro-British death squad in 1989. Free article

Former Justice of the Canadian Supreme Court, Judge Peter Cory gave testimony on his collusion report to the US Helsinki Commission last Wednesday, 4 May. Opening the proceedings in Washington, US Representative Chris Smith said: "We owe it to the memory of those slain, to their families, and to every person in Ireland who cherishes justice to see to it that the British Government immediately commences the public inquiry into the Finucane murder as recommended by Judge Cory and as promised in the Weston Park Agreement. No exceptions. No excuses." Free article

Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams confirmed this week that the release of the four remaining Castlerea prisoners had been included in the sequence of events that were derailed by David Trimble's withdrawal from last October's agreement to get the Peace Process back on track. Free article

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Thirty years ago this month, extremist unionist politicians combined with unionist paramilitaries to undermine a power sharing arrangement in the Six Counties. At the forefront of this struggle against any move away from absolute unionist domination towards sharing democracy and equality with their Catholic neighbours was Ian Paisley. Free article

On Friday 17 May 1974, three no-warning car bombs ripped through the heart of Dublin at 5.30pm, during the city's rush-hour. Twenty-six people and an unborn baby lost their lives. Parnell Street, Talbot Street and South Leinster Street were left devastated. Ninety minutes later, a fourth car bomb exploded in Monaghan town, where a further seven people died. Free article

Dublin Sinn Féin EU candidate Mary Lou McDonald is pictured on Friday with Martin McGuinness MP at the unveiling of a huge election banner that covers three floors of An Phoblacht's offices in Dublin. Free article

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